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Brad van Liew returns to the solo round the world race track

American skipper back for his third solo lap of the planet

Making a welcome return to singlehanded round the world racing is all-American Brad van Liew, who is set to be on the start line of the Velux 5 Oceans this October.
Van Liew is the product of a mis-spent youth when he sailed extensively out of Newport, Rhode Island on crewed keelboats, before decamping to Los Angeles where he worked as pilot, running jets for many Hollywood executives, his best dining out story being how he taught actor Kurt Russell how to fly a stunt plane.
Van Liew returned to sailing in a major way competing in the 1998-99 Around Alone singlehanded around the world race with stops (the successor to the BOC Challenge) aboard the Open 50 Balance Bar and returned four years later with a fully fledged Open 50 campaign, Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America, in which we scored a decisive win in Class 2.
Since the 2002-3 race, van Liew and his wife Meaghan have stood down from their solo round the world lifestyle and set up shop in Charleston, South Carolina, where they have been running the Charleston Maritime Foundation, but have also been instrumental in putting Charleston Race Week on the map.
“Meaghan and I started making babies, then we got recruited to run the Charleston Maritime Foundation build the tall ship and get that all up and running - so it was a nice opportunity for us to spend a few years driving a desk here at home,” van Liew told thedailysail. “But I’ve maxed out on that and we were looking for something new and different to do and include the family in an adventure and it was just nice that the Eco 60 concept rolled out of the door so that we could try and sink our teeth into something.” Offspring are Tate, 8 and Wyatt,

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